Book of Drabbles
by kaleidoscope-dream
Summary: A collection of drabbles written as a daily writing exercise. Ch 7: Together, Taki, Tanuma, and Natsume decide on their plans for the future.
1. Unpleasant Dreams

**a/n: **I decided over at livejournal/dreamwidth to start writing daily, and these are the drabble for the Natsume Yuujinchou fandom that I ended up writing. I hope you one or two will spark your interest. And I hope you enjoy reading them. Feel free to give me advice, point out the good and the bad, and generally help me grow as a writer. Thanks and happy reading!

**Title: **Unpleasant Dreams  
**Fandom:** Natsume Yuujinchou  
**Characters: **Tanuma Kaname; mentions of Natsume and others  
**Rating:** PG  
**Words:** (+/-) 635  
**Summary:** One day, he knows, the nightmares are going to follow him into reality and what then?  
**Notes: **Written for fic_promptly at dreamwidth.

He's running with everything he has and yet he's still too far away to stop the screaming. Low branches and brambles scratch at his arms and legs, but he doesn't let up in his pace long enough to think of brushing them aside or untangling himself. He blindly keeps going, using pure force to reach the place he needs to be.

Natsume, Natsume, Natsume. The name repeats like a mantra in his mind and that's all he can focus on. Natsume's still too far away. The sun abandons him halfway through the forest, his only guiding light hidden behind clouds, and he stumbles on a tree root. The shadows are dense under the crown canopy and Kaname has to wait for his eyes to adjust before he can go any further.

It costs him, those few seconds of waiting. The screams have stopped and the forest is too quiet.

Either Natsume had won or he wasn't there any more. Or worse, he was there, but he wasn't alive. Kaname forces that last thought away in a hurry. He refuses to even consider that. He can't lose Natsume. He can't. There were promises he had to keep with Natsume. A promise to go to the same university. A promise to stay friends forever. A promise to never let Natsume experience loneliness again.

He knows too well what it's like to be alone, and he won't let his friend feel like that ever again. He'll be there. He'll stop Natsume from going somewhere he can't.

The trees start to thin and Kaname can make out a clearing ahead. He skids to a halt just outside the grasp of the shadows. A body lays face down in front of him and that is enough to cause panic to well up in his chest before a cry of _Natsume!_rips itself from his throat.

He pulls the motionless form into his lap and shakes Natsume as hard as he can, still with the mantra of Natsume, Natsume, Natsume - but aloud, hoping the name would do something, anything, to bring Natsume Takashi back to him. His friend looks asleep in his arms and it can't be true. Natsume can't be dead. There's no blood, no more screaming, nothing that can give away what transpired mere moments before in this desolate place.

His forehead collides with Natsume's, hard, but the gesture does nothing to stir the seemingly asleep Natsume. The other boy's skin is cold to the touch. Not unlike what he imagines a corpse would feel like. Stiff, cold, clammy - but without the stench of death in the air.

Kaname can't believe it. He knows what death is like and this isn't it. Natsume can't be dead. The ayakashi, he thinks, did something. Taki, Natori, someone would know how to fix this - but that doesn't stop the tears and they fall one by one on the cold, unfeeling skin of his friend as Kaname pleads, "Don't leave me."

He awakens to the sound of his alarm clock and it's just another day, like the one before it and the one before that. Except this time his pillow is damp and he can still feel the panic in his veins. One day, he knows, the nightmares are going to follow him into reality and what then?

He reaches for the glasses beside the alarm and holds them up. Natori gave them to him a while ago. Maybe Natori could teach him a way to protect Natsume, too.

His grip on the glasses tightens and he wonders how long he has.


	2. By the Riverside

**Title:** By the Riverside  
**Fandom:** Natsume Yuujinchou  
**Characters:** Natsume Takashi  
**Rating:** PG, warnings for bullying and minor peril  
**Words:** (+/-) 528  
**Summary:** A story of a boy, a strange old woman, and how sometimes, the smallest of things mean the most.  
**Notes:** Written for writers_choice at livejournal. Prompt #450 - never look back.

When Takashi was small, there was an old woman who sat under a bridge.

The bridge led to school and school was where Takashi had to go if he wanted to make his new guardians happy. The strange woman never said anything and Takashi pretended he didn't see her. It was easier that way. She didn't look like those strange apparitions he often saw, but he didn't want to be fooled again. She never called out and he never looked back.

Then one day, on his way home, a group of kids snatched his school bag and threw it down to the river below. The current was fast and his bag wasn't heavy enough to withstand the flow. It was gone before Takashi could reach the stone railing or think to cry out in alarm. The kids laughed and continued on their way, as if they hadn't done something horrible.

He angrily thought of starting a fight, but one glance at his schoolmates and he knew he would be outnumbered. It was always like this. They didn't like strange. They didn't like different. And they certainly didn't like Takashi. He was used to it, but that didn't make it hurt any less.

Something black on the riverbank caught his eye and he was surprised to see it was his school bag. He had been so sure the current had swept it away, but there it was, as dry and safe and wrinkled as always. Relief blossomed in his chest and became the sun that burned away his anxiety.

He wouldn't disappoint his new family after all.

Hurrying down to the river, he didn't notice the person beside his bag until a withered hand stopped him from retrieving it. The old woman under the bridge stood there, holding him back with a strength she shouldn't possess. Her long, gray hair still hid her face from view and she was hunched over oddly, but there she stood, as lonely and out of place and wrinkled as always.

He wondered if he should have said something, asked her if she had saved his bag, but those half-hearted words died before they took shape. She had pointed to his bag and shook her head, warning him off. Something wasn't right, and she was trying to tell him that, but Takashi didn't trust people. He especially didn't trust ayakashi that masqueraded as people.

Struggling out of her firm grip, he made a grab for his bag - and then let out a shout as something snaked around his ankle and dragged him into the river. Or tried to drag him into the river. He lost consciousness after that, and all he remembered from that day was what he felt and what he heard: strong arms, a hoarse voice, and the words the old woman left behind.

"It meant more than you know that you never ran away. Never looked back, but never ran away. Thank you."

He never saw the old woman again, but somehow, he never forget her either.


	3. Rumor Has It

**Title:** Rumor Has It  
**Fandom: **Natsume Yuujinchou  
**Characters: **Hinoe, Nyanko-sensei/Madara, Tanuma Kaname, Natsume Takashi  
**Rating:** G  
**Words:** (+/-) 779  
**Summary:** Hinoe and Madara discuss the likelihood that Tanuma and Natsume are lovers.

"Stay out, Nyanko-sensei. Tanuma and I need to talk, and we won't have privacy with you around." The human boy closes the sliding door with a _snap_ and leaves no chance for rebuttal.

Madara huffs and waddles away. He was supposed to be the kid's bodyguard, and this is how he gets treated?

He dips a paw into the ayakashi pond that Tanuma cannot see and swats at the fish that come too close. It's always Tanuma these days, beside Natsume, talking with Natsume, laughing with Natsume, and he can't help but think it's stupid. The boy is useless, even weaker than the boy with Reiko's face.

"Upset, Madara?" He doesn't have to look to know Hinoe is somewhere in the trees behind him. The stench of tobacco alerts him to someone else's presence. "You've been replaced."

He makes a lunge for a fish and misses, falling into the water. "A great ayakashi like me does not get replaced."

"Then what do you call it?" Hinoe muses aloud as she takes a drag from her pipe. "Face it, Madara. Natsume isn't Reiko. He likes humans."

"He likes being a busybody," corrects Madara. He shakes off the water from the pond and then cleans the filth from between his toes. The water is tainted with the smell of a human, the one alone with Natsume, and he can't stand it. He growls and shakes his fur again, but it doesn't help. "To Natsume, that human is nothing more than a way to fill his loneliness."

Hinoe hums noncommittally. "I think he's in love, and what a shame. With Reiko's face, he could have anyone." She disregards the skeptical look from Madara, because Madara is always skeptical when it comes to matters of the heart. "But he should be with someone powerful. We both agree on that, don't we?"

The real reason Hinoe is here makes itself apparent. She wants Madara to do something about Tanuma's proximity to Natsume - and probably to have a laugh at Madara's expense as well.

"What makes you think he's in love?" Madara asks, but it comes out as a hiss in his lucky-cat form.

"It's obvious," Hinoe comments dismissively. "The time they spend together is increasing. Natsume gets defensive if youkai target the boy. He gets jealous when humans touch the boy. And they sleep together. Doesn't that make them lovers?"

Madara laughs. "They spend time together because Natsume worries too much! He gets defensive because Tanuma can't protect himself! He gets _angry_ when humans mistreat his friend. That's not jealousy, you misled woman! And sleeping in the same room does not mean they are sleeping together. They sleep _beside_ each other!" All right, he admits, he likes to watch Natsume a little too much, but at least he doesn't misconstrue the facts.

"Oh. Then what are they to each other?" Hinoe raises one delicate eyebrow and Madara scoffs.

"Friends. Just friends." His tone is insistent. He doesn't want to consider losing Natsume to humans; he has already lost to humans once. "I won't let some human have what's mine," declares Madara haughtily.

"Oh. Perhaps it's _you_ who's in love, then," Hinoe notes. "How boring." In truth, she finds it anything but and it shows in her smile. "Does Natsume know how you feel?"

Madara tries climbing the tree, just to swipe at her smug face, but his efforts are in vain. "Don't misunderstand, fool! Natsume is property, a toy, not a love interest." He grimaces at the thought.

When he glances up, Hinoe isn't focused on him at all. Her gaze is on -

He turns his head and freezes. Natsume is standing there in the doorway, looking less than pleased. "I'm a what?"

Well, this is a disaster. Madara quickly feigns ignorance and hopes for the best. "No, no. I love you, Natsume!" Hinoe snickers from her place in the tree. "I just have trouble expressing my feelings." His ploy doesn't work and he feels the full extent of Natsume's fist of pain.

When he regains consciousness, Hinoe is still there, poised on her branch and watching his every move. "By the way, I was right. If you hadn't been so busy declaring your undying love for Natsume, you would have noticed how red his lips were. How do you explain that, Madara?"

Madara gives up. He has been defeated by humans again.


	4. A Strange Girl

**Title:** A Strange Girl  
**Fandom: **Natsume Yuujinchou  
**Characters: **Natsume Reiko  
**Rating:** G  
**Words: **(+/-) 577  
**Summary:** Reiko stops caring about the stares and lives on, but when she dies, the stares live on.  
**Notes:** Written for fic_promptly - the prompt was 'she's stopped acknowledging the weird stares'.

The youkai whispered that she was a harbinger of destruction. The humans just thought she was strange. Pretty, but strange. Never quite fitting anywhere, like a mismatched puzzle piece.

Once upon a time, she had hated the looks she got. The looks of contempt and fear and pity. Then one day, she was pushed into the mud by a kid half her age and she realized - nothing was going to change. She stood back up, dusted off the worse of the caked on dirt and grime, and decided it didn't matter. It wasn't a bad day. The sun was shining, the clouds were scarce, and there was a faint wind to cool off the heat of the day. There was very little she could complain about and so she smiled. If she forgot about everything else, then maybe she could find that elusive happiness from younger years.

After that, she never stopped smiling. There was always something fun to do. Some poor youkai to harass. Some human to defend herself against. And there were a few, seldom few, that she considered herself lucky to have met, even if she didn't show it properly.

The stares she had been so aware of before - they dimmed, as if they never existed in the first place. She laughed more, she fought more, she cried more when she was really, truly alone, but she lived more than she had before and she had begun to have fun. A lot of fun that made up for the painful memories she would have to bear for life.

And she learned. There were spells and incantations, wrestling moves and judo throws, and even a couple of stranger things, like feelings. Though that last one she ignored obstinately. There wasn't enough time in one lifetime to waste on how she felt; she just went out and felt it.

In the end, she was free and at peace and happy with how she had chosen to live her life. She had completed her life goal from long, long ago. Back among those childish days, where she had dreamed of only one thing. She had made a Book of Friends.

The names collected would be passed down to her daughter, and then her daughter would pass it on to her child. The cycle would go on, unbroken, and not a single member of her small family would suffer the same loneliness she had. She wouldn't allow it. If her life had meant anything, it would mean that she had provided a future for her family that was unlike her own. No one would have to be left behind.

So when she died, unexpectedly, one crisp winter night, her perfect plan shattered.

The Book of Friends laid forgotten under a floorboard, and it took twenty years for her daughter to find it. And it took another sixteen before her grandson inherited it.

But the Book accomplished what she could not. It fell into the right hands, and it helped them find friends. Something Natsume Reiko never really had. She pretended and she laughed and she lived, but there had always been an emptiness to everything. A taint she could never erase.

After all, the stares hadn't disappeared. They had just gone unnoticed.


	5. Those Helpful Friends

**Title: **Those Helpful Friends  
**Fandom: **Natsume Yuujinchou  
**Characters: **Nishimura, Natsume, mentions of Tanuma  
**Rating:** G  
**Words:** (+/-) 783  
**Summary:** Nishimura looks up anemia and wants to help.  
**Notes: **Written for a prompt over at fic_promptly, which said, "I looked up anemia last night."

Nishimura walked into his classroom, slammed his hands down onto Natsume's desk, and said, "I looked it up."

Aside from a slight look of shock, Natsume was his usual self. Polite, smiling, and kind. "What did you look up?"

"Anemia!" he exclaimed, and then he excused himself to the person who happened to sitting in front of Natsume. Moving to stand beside his friend's desk instead, he crossed his arms, his foot tapping impatiently. "Do you realize how serious that can get if you don't look after yourself properly?"

"Um," Natsume appeared at a loss for words, "who said I had anemia?"

Nishimura was equally confused. "You said it yourself. Yesterday. Then you ran off! I even called your house later, to make sure you were okay, but Touko-san said you weren't home! What happened, Natsume?"

His friend glanced uneasily at his classmates, all of who were listening in. "Could we talk about this some other time?"

"We're going to talk about it right now," declared Nishimura. "So start talking."

Natsume tried to hide behind a school book as he muttered, "I spent the night at Tanuma's place."

At that, Nishimura visibly deflated, a little less frustrated and a little more curious. "Because he has anemia too?"

"We were close to the temple he lives at," amended Natsume, "so it was the most logical place to go."

"I could have walked you home," Nishimura grumbled. He finished with, "I'm starting to think you have some secret with Tanuma that you won't tell me!" Actually, he had already thought of that - but at the time, it had been Tanuma _and_ Taki.

A blushing Natsume was the last thing he expected to see, but he pretended as if he knew that would happen and pointed at his friend, crowing, "Aha, so you do have a secret with him!" By this point, the class had stopped trying to be subtle - they were outright staring.

Natsume covered his face completely with the book. "There is no secret. What secret? Class is going to start soon, by the way. You might want to take your seat."

"We're not done," insisted Nishimura. "You may rely on Tanuma like your knight in shining armor, but don't forget you have more than one friend, idiot." He reached into his school bag and triumphantly pulled out something, exchanging Natsume's book for his gift. "Here. Eat that if you feel faint on the way home."

In his hands, Natsume turned over the wrapped curry bread and read the bold sticker, which said: _high in iron_. Bemusedly, he stated, "Thank you, I think."

"You're welcome," Nishimura said proudly. He moved to take his seat next to Natsume, shrugging off his bag in the process. "We can go bike riding this afternoon, too. Exercise is good for people with anemia."

"Oh, then maybe we should invite Tanuma along," suggested Natsume.

Nishimura dramatically fell into seat, as if wounded. "And here I wanted it to be just the two of us!"

Chuckling, Natsume said, "That's not fair. You can't take care of me and not Tanuma."

In retaliation, Nishirmura threw his hands into the air. "I give up! It's no good without Tanuma, huh. Fine, fine, I'll ask him after class. But only if I can ask Taki-san, too!"

Natsume turned away, smiling. "She doesn't have anemia, though."

"Are you sure? Here I was, suspecting that you had an anemia support group, and turns out it's just you and Tanuma that share such an extra special bond!"

It was Nishimura's turn to laugh. Natsume had gone pink in the face again. "People are going to get the wrong idea if you keep saying things like that."

"What? You mean I shouldn't say things like: you and Tanuma are tied by a red string of fate?" teased Nishimura. "Or did you mean I shouldn't say anything about how you stare longingly into the each other's eyes?"

Natsume collapsed face-first onto his desk, groaning. His bread was squished, but he didn't care - he would still eat it. "No wonder you don't have a girlfriend, those were horrible lines."

"Plenty of girls want to date me," insisted Nishimura, scratching at his cheek, "since I don't look like a girl and all …"

"I do not look like a girl. Why does everyone keep saying that?" Natsume raised his head back up, peeling the bread from his face. The plastic had stuck.

"Even Tanuma?" ventured Nishimura.

Natsume was spared the necessity of answering when the teacher walked in and class started.

By the smile on Nishimura's face, however, the conversation was far from over. Next time, Natsume would know better than to run off without saying goodbye.


	6. Coincidence

**Title:** Coincidence  
**Fandom:** Natsume Yuujinchou  
**Characters:** Natsume Reiko, mystery guy from the manga (so spoiler alert for fan speculation?)  
**Rating:** G  
**Words: **(+/-) 1351  
**Summary:** He warns her to be careful, treats her to manjuu, but who is he really?

A girl was being chased through the streets. Again. Nothing new there, considering this girl was a troublemaker in her own right. The thing was: not everyone could see what was chasing her. Onlookers gave her strange looks - some of pity, some of distaste - as she laughed and ran and smiled over her shoulder, seeing something that only she could.

She ran and ran, looking freer than anyone - and then she crashed spectacularly into someone who had been minding his own business, his gaze steadfast on a map. She didn't have time for apologies or pleasantries, so she took off without saying a word, a worried frown tugging at her lips when she found what had been chasing her was closer than before. Perhaps she shouldn't have chosen a game of tag after all, her pursuer was faster than she thought.

Caught up in the world that she alone could see, she didn't notice the man she had bumped into was staring. At her, like all the others, but it was a look of rapt attention on his face. Not of pity, not of distaste, but pure fascination was what he looked at her with.

-

After that, they met again, coincidentally. She had been hiding in a tree, escaping a youkai with one eye, when the same man had approached her and warned her to be careful, saying it was dangerous to play in trees. Laughing, she had jumped down and she was hardly graceful, knowing nothing of personal etiquette. Politely, the man looked anywhere that wasn't up her skirt.

This second meeting didn't go well either. The commotion had attracted the youkai and she had to run away again, giving him a half-hearted salute before fleeing.

-

By the third time, she was starting to wonder if coincidence had anything to do with it. She had been resting by the bank of a river when he had sat down beside her, not making conversation, not saying anything at all. He just sat there, looking at the river, and she followed his gaze - finding a kappa waving at her merrily.

Snorting, she got up and dusted off her skirt. "You must really be bored," she commented. Then she left. Not someone to wait around for a response.

Not even when he called, "Wait!" He tried to chase after her, but unlike a youkai, he was too slow.

-

The fourth time really was a coincidence, because they _both_ were surprised to see each other again. She had gotten out of school mere minutes before and that meant she was headed for her favorite park, ready to waste time until dark. There was no one at home who would care if she came home late, but she liked to keep consistent, if nothing else.

Their meeting was much like the first - but this time he was the one that had been running from something and she was the innocent bystander that fell down, scrapping her calves and bruising her elbows. And unlike her non-apologetic behavior, the man was very sorry - so sorry, in fact, that he invited her out for dinner. She declined, flat-out telling him she wasn't interested as she picked herself up and walked away.

She thought that was the end of it and took up a seat on a swing, idly swaying as she watched the sun begin to set. Then he was back, holding a paper bag, and she was ready to make another run for it.

That was before he called out, "Since you wouldn't come with me, I brought the food to us!" And he was thoroughly proud of himself.

She wasn't impressed. Rather, she was annoyed. "Leave me alone," she kicked off from the ground, swinging higher. "I said I wasn't hungry!" Her stomach loudly protested, much to her embarrassment. She hid behind her long hair when she finally came to a stop and he offered out the food, smiling his winsome smile. "I don't take things from strangers."

"Well, allow me to introduce myself." Or so he said, but all he told her was, "You can call me Masahiro."

"Reiko," she grudgingly allowed.

"Great! Now then, Reiko-chan - please enjoy." The bag was held out again, and this time she took it, indulging a little since the man had spared the expense.

-

From that point on, he made a habit of bribing her with food whenever they saw each other. She especially liked the manjuu treats, because it was something she couldn't usually have - unless she stole it from a shrine, and that was only to infuriate an ayakashi. Manjuu tasted sweeter when it was shared, and they always did.

She was beginning to enjoy these weird, coincidental meetings - but it couldn't last. It never did, because she wasn't normal. She could see things that others couldn't, and that made her - "A freak! She's a freak!" one of her classmates shouted. The other girl had caught her whispering to her desk, trying to get rid of the strange, cat-like creature that was blocking her notes. She wasn't going to fail because of a youkai. That excuse was more outrageous than 'my dog ate my homework'.

"Shut up," she hissed to the disruptive classmate, but the teacher overlooked the other girl and sent Reiko to the principal instead. 'A worrying case,' they called her. 'A strange girl that needs a firm hand.'

After being dismissed early, since that had been her tenth time in the principal's office that week, she decided to climb the stairs to the nearest shrine and lounge around. It was better than going home and getting yelled at - again. Nothing new there, either. It was the same, day after day. Nothing changing, nothing happening. Humans were so boring.

"Well, hello. What are you doing here … ah, Reiko-chan?" A shadow loomed over her and she raised an arm to her eyes, drowning out her sight. She didn't want to see anything today. She wanted to be alone, disconnected from humans, ayakashi, the world - freer than anyone.

Something small hit her in the stomach, and she peeked under her arm to see a piece of candy lying there. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"Me?" a too cheerful voice asked. "I'm here on a job, of course. Funny, we keep running into each other!"

Sitting up, she unrolled the candy from its wrapper and popped it into her mouth. "I don't think it's funny. Are you some kind of pervert?" He did like handing out candy, but worse, he always had that look on his face when they were together - too happy, too peaceful, smiling like everything was okay. And Reiko hated liars.

"Do I seem like one?" Masahiro asked, genuinely curious.

"Yes. You're really suspicious." She bit into her candy, snapping it in two. "What do you do for a living, anyway?" His clothes appeared ordinary - no suit, no tailored shoes, nothing fancy. Though the long coat and hat added to the mysterious feel about him, but the glasses made him look like a dork.

"I'm so glad you asked!" Masahiro could probably generate electricity with a smile like that. "I'm -"

He was interrupted by a scream, and while Reiko could careless about a human scream, Masahiro was running off, heading towards the trouble. She followed, but only because she had time to kill.

Looking back, it would have been better if she hadn't gone after him, if she hadn't wanted to help. Then she never would have known the truth.

He was an exorcist. And an exorcist could never know about her Book of Friends.

It marked the end of their coincidental meetings, that day. She had something to hide and he had something to protect, but they could never see eye-to-eye and she wasn't going to force anything on anyone. They were too different, despite being able to see the same scenery, and that was scarier than any youkai.

So she ran, because no one could catch her if she didn't want to be caught.


	7. Decisions for the Future

**Title:** Decisions for the Future  
**Fandom:** Natsume Yuujinchou  
**Characters:** Taki, Tanuma, Natsume  
**Rating:** G  
**Words:** (+/-) 956  
**Summary:** Together, they decide on their plans for the future.  
**Notes:** Written for fic_promptly. The request was Taki + Tanuma + Natsume, planning for college.

The hard-hitting questions were always asked on days when they were at their calmest. Like today, as they relaxed on Taki's floor, laying in some semblance of a circle.

"What do you plan to do after school?" Taki had posed the question that was now on all of their minds. "I think I'm going to go to a university," she admitted, twirling a strand of brownish-red hair reflexively, nervous. "There's … something I want to do."

Tanuma caught on quickly and smiled. "I heard you placed second at this year's Winter Art Contest."

She covered up her face, embarrassed. "Don't say it like that, Tanuma. It's not first. I was aiming for first."

"This is the first I've heard of it," Natsume commented, and he was also smiling, light-hearted and faintly teasing. "Congratulations."

She rolled over, facing the floor to hide her blush. "It's nothing!"

"What kind of art did you submit?" wondered Natsume. He turned Tanuma when she didn't answer. "Do you know?"

Resting a hand under his chin, Tanuma said, "I imagine it was probably of Ponta."

"Ponta?" Natsume asked, belatedly realizing that was Tanuma's nickname for Nyanko-sensei, which made him laugh - and that attracted Taki's attention.

"It wasn't horrible, I promise!" She was looking at him pleadingly, so pleadingly that Natsume could only nod, still smiling. "I'll show it to you after I get it back next week."

"Speaking of university," Tanuma spoke up a few seconds later, looking a bit unsure of himself as well, "I've been thinking that I …"

Taki interrupted him, saying, "You would make a good policeman!"

"P-Policeman?" repeated Tanuma, shocked. "No, definitely not." After vigorously shaking his head in denial, he explained, "I'm thinking of majoring in Business and Management. I want the temple to prosper if I follow in Dad's footsteps."

"That's a really good choice," Natsume said quietly, gaze unfocused, "I wonder if I'll ever know what I want to do with my life."

Tanuma and Taki exchanged looks before sitting up - and dog-piling Natsume. He let out an _oof_ as they fell onto him, and for a while, they just rough-housed. Messing around, being kids; it was one of those simple moments that Natsume had rarely experienced. He had never had anyone to tickle, to wrestle, to laugh and smile so much with. But that wasn't the case now - he had friends.

When they ran out of energy, they collapsed onto each other, Taki curled into Natsume's side and Tanuma languidly resting half on top of his friend, one arm around his waist and brushing Taki's skirt. It wasn't awkward or uncomfortable, but Natsume couldn't help but say, "You're making it hard to breathe, Tanuma." And that was when Taki stuck out her tongue and pulled her friend a little closer.

"That's not fair," Tanuma wasn't moving an inch, anyway, "why aren't you complaining about her?"

"Because she's not trying to straddle me," Natsume flatly stated. If he really didn't like it, though, he would have already pushed Tanuma off - and Tanuma knew that.

"You're soft, I think I'll stay right here," disregarded Tanuma as he closed his eyes, content. "Ah, I've figured it out," he suddenly exclaimed. Natsume didn't outwardly react, but that had thrown his thoughts into disarray. He hadn't realized Tanuma had been that close to his ear.

"What did you figure out?" Taki urged, curious to know what he was talking about.

"What Natsume would be good at!" Strangely, Natsume wasn't too reassured by the playful smile on Tanuma's face.

"Oh, oh, if we're going to talk about that, let me go first." She scrunched up her face in thought and then blurted out, "A kindergarten teacher!"

Tanuma tried his hardest not to laugh at Natsume's expression, which consisted of dismay and incredulity. "I'm horrible with children," he mumbled, "you saw what happened with Kai."

They didn't allow him to wallow in his memories, though, because Tanuma was the next to suggest, "You could be a firefighter."

"That's as bad as you being a police officer!"

"Hey, I wouldn't make a completely horrible officer," insisted Tanuma, "I just don't think Law suits me."

"Because you're a rebel," Taki teased. "And admit it, Natsume wouldn't make a good firefighter - look how he's always rushing into things."

"Well, isn't that a firefighter specialty? They're," he grinned, "hotheaded."

His friends groaned at the lame pun. Taki buried her face into Natsume's side - but this time she was hiding because of someone else's embarrassment. "Don't pursue comedy, Tanuma. You'd fail miserably," was Taki's muffled statement.

Natsume didn't comment on it, but he was of the same opinion. "And I'm not hotheaded, I -"

"We know, we know." Taki raised her head. "You're _worse_ than hotheaded!"

"What does that mean?" Frowning, Natsume pointed out, "I just do what I think is right. I want to be -"

"Kind," finished Tanuma, finally moving aside but not too far away. He was still close enough to run a finger down Natsume's cheek as he marveled at how clueless his friend truly was - because he was already too kind for his own good. "You should do something that makes you happy, Natsume. Don't rush. Think about it seriously."

"What if I run out of time?" Natsume asked, and it was a valid worry. They only had a few months left.

"Then let's make a pact," decided Taki. She stretched out a hand. "Regardless of what we decide on individually, let's go together. Let's go to the same university."

Tanuma placed a hand on top of hers. "Friends shouldn't be apart," he continued.

Shyly, Natsume placed his hand on top. "Even if I don't know where I'm headed, I can always change. As long as I have you two there, I can do anything."


End file.
